


Galaxies and Fireflies

by aliceboleyn



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: M/M, another universe - high school
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 06:17:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14847357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliceboleyn/pseuds/aliceboleyn
Summary: Walking back under the rain felt like running up a hill and screaming, the air had never seemed fresher and Newt was reborn after days and days spent holding his breath. That night had tested many of the boundaries he had drawn around him: he’d had to face once again the cruelty of loneliness and he'd had a taste of Minho’s company for the first time in years.But most of all, he couldn’t stop thinking about the comfortable light Thomas emanated.





	Galaxies and Fireflies

 Newt had always enjoyed walking to school, his father used to hold his hand all the way from home to kindergarten and even if he was no longer walking by his side, Newt still found some kind of freedom in the twenty minutes he spent alone.  
They were the same houses he had seen his whole life, he had witnessed their bloom and their slow decay and, after all, his life was no different. He remembered the leaves’ colours shining more brightly in the summer when he was younger.  
 There it was: High School, with all its average and disappointing charm. The only thing Newt cared about was the boy who was sitting on a bench next to a red car; his name was Alby and he was his best friend.  
 The moment Alby spotted Newt in the crowd, he jumped on his feet with a wide smile on his lips.

“Hi Newt, have you heard about Gally’s party?”

“I might have heard about it." Answered Newt carefully, stopping close to his friend.

“Well then, we should go.”

“Must I remind you the we do not go to parties?”

“I know, – replied Alby without hesitation. – but this is not going to be like any other party. There will be live music, a rock band from London.”

“Listen, man, we don’t even know Gally.”

“We both worked at the swimming pool two summers ago.”

“Have you ever talked in the last two years?” Newt’s voice sounded even more sceptical the he truly was.

“No… But you don’t need to actually know the person who hosts the party. – Come on, Newt, it’s our last year, we should go to at least one party before we leave this shitty town.”

Newt shook his head: “I can’t believe you are really asking me this.”

“Is this a yes?”

Alby’s face was filled with satisfaction.

“It’s a you-owe-me-a-concert.”

“Who’s playing this time?”

“Rise Against, next month.”

 This time Newt was the one who was decently satisfied. The truth was that Newt despised parties with every part of himself, but, as always, his fear of disappointing the person who had done so much for him was too scary to let his tastes interfere.  
 Newt hated the idea of leaving the house at night, especially for something which had nothing to do with his interests, yet his mother had shown him her best smile when he had told her about his plans.  
_I’m glad you are experiencing new thing_ s, had said the woman, caressing her son’s face with affection.  
Claire was a therapist and still she understood so little of what was inside her children’s hearts.  
 Before Newt actually reached the party, he was already able to hear the loud music that was coming from the garden.  
Gally lived in a huge house by the lake, which looked like the perfect American house to host a party, yet it was England and rain was already threatening the autumnal sky.  
Newt decided to wait for Alby outside, regretting his choices every second more. He contemplated the possibility of walking away at least a couple of times, but in the end he found himself incapable to move, even after twenty minutes.

“Newt!”

 A deep voice coming from Newt’s back surprised him enough to fasten his heartbeats and make him turn around in a second.  
Minho Park was standing a couple of meters away from him, as handsome as he had always been. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt that let his strong arms shine even in the pale sunlight.

“Hi, Minho. How are you?”

The two boys hadn’t talked once in the last year, thinking that they used to spend every afternoon playing together until they turned eleven.

“I can’t believe you are at a party.”

“Yeah, me neither.” Commented Newt, wishing to be anywhere but there.

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“Yes, Alby should be on his way.”

Minho walked some steps closer and then, pointing at the house, said: “Let’s go inside in the meantime, the band is about to start playing.”

Newt felt even more cursed in that moment, but how was he supposed to decline? So he followed his old friend.  
 The living room was less crowded than he had expected, probably because everyone was already outside.  
Gally lived in a happy house, Newt could feel it. Everything about it, from the furniture to the family pictures, looked warm and bright. His parents probably were still in love and in the evening the whole family sat together and laughed, planning their next trip to central Europe and making fun of politicians.  
 When Newt woke up from his daydreams, Minho was in front of him, between two of his friends.

“Newt, these is my friend Thomas and this is Teresa, I don’t know if you already know each other.”

How could he had not noticed them, he’d seen them climb the ladder of popularity and somehow they still managed to look like they weren’t trying at all.  
Thomas stretched out his hand and Newt shook it quickly. Thomas was Minho’s best friend now and every time Newt thought about it, he felt a glaze of envy wrap around his heart.  
Teresa just waved at him with a kind smile on her lips. She had always looked nice, with pleasant features and long black hair framing her pale face. Minho and her had been dating for almost a year and they seemed ready to survive even after high school.

“We are in the same English class.” Commented Thomas walking a bit closer to Newt.

“Yes, I remember your last essay, it was pretty amazing.”

“The one about homosexual love in classics?” asked the boy, biting his lips while grinning.

“Yeah, Mr Shelley was utterly shocked.”

“How dare thee, you poisonous bunch-backed toad!” cried Thomas in a dramatic tone that made Newt burst in a loud laugh.  
If there was something Newt wouldn’t have expected only ten minutes before, it would have been laughing at a Shakespeare’s joke.  
He noticed that Minho and Teresa were a bit further than he remembered and that made the situation appear at least a bit less absurd.

“Do you read Richard III every night before going to sleep?”

“More or less I do.”

“That’s impressing.”

“Well, considering you immediately could tell the play I was quoting, I assume you are pretty impressing too.”

Newt was still amazed by that conversation and for some reasons he didn’t want it to end, when sound of an electric guitar broke the temporary silence that had invaded the house.

“We should go outside. They must have started.”

Newt nodded and while following Thomas, he took out his phone and saw a message from Alby:  
**I’m so sorry Newt, my car is not working. I have to go back home. Don’t worry I still owe you a concert**.  
Newt’s heart collapsed in his chest: being alone at a party meant turning one of his worst nightmares into reality.

“Is anything wrong?” asked Thomas stopping in the middle of the crowd.

Newt hesitated, although Thomas was a rather pleasing company, he knew the guy he had just met wouldn’t have spent the whole night with him.

“My friend just told me his car is broken so he won’t come.” Newt didn’t continue the sentence; after all he didn’t want to show him how lonely he truly was.

“He is about to miss the concert of the century apparently.”

 Newt took the chance to properly look at Thomas for the first time in his life. The boy’s sharp features were shining against the spotlights, he had bright brown eyes and long lashes framing them. He smiled a lot, as if his heart was dancing in his chest or just running amazingly fast, and his cheekbones protrude from his face, giving him an aristocratic aspect.

“Do you play the drum?” asked Newt, trying to top the loud music.

“Yes, I’m in the school band, if you have a thirst for glory you should join us.”

Newt laughed forgetting about the misery of his situation for a second.

“Thanks, but I’ve already dropped the most popular boy band in whole England in order to pursue my solo career.”

“What do you play, Zayn Malik?” Newt couldn’t help but smile at how genuinely funny Thomas was.

“The bass and occasionally the piano, I don’t think they play anything else in One Direction.”

A wave of bitterness left Newt breathless after he had finished his sentence: it was no great surprise that Minho had forsaken him for someone as bright and as hilarious as Thomas.  
Only after a couple of songs it started raining heavily, forcing the musicians to stop playing.  
Gally and some of his friends tried to save the party, turning the concert into an acoustic session inside the living room.  
By that time Minho had joined Newt and Thomas, making everything look way more awkward than it already was, therefore Newt thought it might be acceptable for him to leave the party when everyone went inside.

“Wait until it stops.” Had told him Minho, but Newt had promptly answered that it was meant to rain all night, thus the sooner he was home, the better.  
 Walking back under the rain felt like running up a hill and screaming, the air had never seemed fresher and Newt was reborn after days and days spent holding his breath.  
That night had tested many of the boundaries he had drawn around him: he’d had to face once again the cruelty of loneliness and he'd had a taste of Minho’s company for the first time in years. But most of all, he couldn’t stop thinking about the comfortable light Thomas emanated.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!  
> My name is Alice and I'm, as you can see, a die hard fan of newtmas. I don't usually write this kind of stories, but somehow I felt inspired. So this is going to be a soft fiction about how Newt and Thomas fall in love in another universe, where there is no Flare and no WICKED.  
> I badly want to write this story, but I haven't gotten really far, so I'm posting this mostly to see if you find it interesting. Please let me know your opinions, 
> 
> Alice


End file.
